Brassic

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Joe Gilgun's Shameless successor is still joyriding through rural Lancashire at a breakneck pace. This week's wild ride involves a raid on a rival weed grower's farm and an encounter with Erin's on-the-run brother Ronnie. Plus Dominic West is back as Vinnie's hilariously self-involved GP, Dr Cox.

Michelle Keegan pictured filming Brassic Series 2

Michelle Keegan showed off a new look as she was spotted for the first time filming the second series of the Sky comedy Brassic.

Michelle Keegan interview

Brassic flips "grimy" perception of northern British working class.

Brassic is a new comedy from Shameless writer Danny Brocklehurst and actor Joe Gilgun (Woody in This Is England). Vinnie (Gilgun), sharp, witty, bipolar, is first seen wanting to jump off a bridge in the fictional northern town of Hawley, then launching into a Trainspotting-esque spiel ("Fuck the middle class, fuck the Guardian", etc). Vinnie thinks that life is "about having your mates, having a laugh, just finding a way to survive". Duly, this week's opening two episodes involved him, his best mate, Dylan (Damien Molony), and their gang becoming embroiled in hectic, caper-strewn plots encompassing everything from the kidnapping of Shetland ponies via dealing with underground fatbergs to hostile crime bosses.

Deeper themes lurk in Brassic, not least Vinnie's condition (Gilgun has bipolar disorder in real life), and Dylan's partner, young mum, Erin (Michelle Keegan), refusing to go along with the culture of extended adolescence, at one point acidly remarking to Vinnie that there appeared to be "three of them" in her and Dylan's relationship. "If it is, I'm the one getting the least sex", quipped Vinnie. On this showing, Brassic is funny, scratchy, surprising (Dominic West shows up as a useless, self-absorbed doctor), and promises to get darker.

TV review: Brassic, series 1 episode 1

The ongoing plot looks intriguing as well with Gilgun's narration informing us at the end of the episode that this was the moment that everything changed for him, and I certainly plan to stick around and find out just how that happens.

Why 'Brassic' is going to be your next TV obsession

It's This Is England meets The Inbetweeners - with added Michelle Keegan.

Brassic review

This caper about a gang of friends creating their own entertainment on this and that side of the law brings to mind the best of Shameless.

Brassic review

Michelle Keegan and Joe Gilgun's new Sky comedy breaks the mould when it comes to mental health.